


The Anti-void Does what the Anti-void wants

by Okumatte



Series: The Void Series [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anti-Void, Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, Errotale, Headcanon-ness, Lengthy Explanations, Mentions of Ink, One-sided feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 11:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10763751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okumatte/pseuds/Okumatte
Summary: Error comes back to the anti-void to find it isn't as empty as it seems.Includes lengthy explanations. In order to understand everything better, you might want to read the first story in the series, but it's not necessary.





	The Anti-void Does what the Anti-void wants

A static-like sound ripped through the air. A strange figure stepped through, black and red sharply contrasting the white space he’d entered. The figure’s skull was black and his eyes were red, yellow, and blue. Blue threads streamed out of his eyes like tears and he had an off-putting yellow smile. His clothing was simple - black exercise shorts with blue lines, a red t-shirt, black slippers, and a black hoodie with yellow and blue trim. His form was covered in strange error symbols and he seemed to sometimes flicker in places.

The figure went by the name Error, as though he had a plethora of floating name-tags in the air. His had long abandoned the ‘Sans’ part of his name as, being a multiverse traveller, he had met far too many other beings with the same name.

He had lived in the anti-void for as long as he could remember and had never met another being in all of that time. However, today was different. Soon after he stepped out of the tear, he noticed someone else. Being a solitary creature, he was disgusted that something had infiltrated his space.

“Hey, what are you doing in this place?” he snarled at the figure.

He expected the being to be some strange monster, but to his surprise the being looked like a human. Blank light blue eyes on an emotionless face met his. Her skin was pale, almost blending in with the anti-void and her hair was a short bob and actually was the color of the anti-void. She wore a plain outfit - A light yellow tank top with a plain white cardigan, a white mid-calf length skirt, and white flats. She looked unbothered by his angry demeanor and all he could do at that point was growl and walk away, content to just not be near the being.

“Ugh, whatever. Just don’t follow me. You’ll die here or go insane soon enough.” he stated matter-of-factly and made his exit from the area. He just wished he knew how the hell a human had infiltrated the anti-void so that he could prevent it in the future.

However, he valued his privacy more than such answers. It was very unlikely for him to meet her again, so he just continued walking away. After a time, he hoped that he’d lost the being. However, the being was still there behind him.

“Uuuuuugh… what the hell do you want!?” he yelled, scowling angrily at the being behind him. “Get the hell away from me!” he growled as he threw his threads at the being, attempting to fling their soul away from him as fast as possible.

“Wait… where is your soul?” he questioned, now more confused than angry.

The being just stared back at him, face as blank as before. He quickly shook off his curiosity and it was replaced with anger again.

“Fucking freak, get the hell away from me! Don’t follow me! I want to be left alone, you hear?” he lashed his strings out, trying to push away whatever it was. His strings hit solid mass, but the girl barely moved and definitely didn’t make a sound. He growled, quickly spinning and walking away, hands deep in his coat pockets and scowl even deeper than before. Why wouldn’t this creepy girl leave him the hell alone?

“Why don’t you like me?” a feminine voice asked from behind him. He turned around, blue strings rushing toward the noise. This time, the girl fell, but didn’t make a single sound as she stood back up, seemingly unhurt.

He stomped up to her, getting his face close to hers, scowling all the way.

“Because I like to be LEFT ALONE! And this is MY HOME! I should get some damn privacy!” his error signs were glitching uncontrollably at this point. He turned around, stomping away, even angrier than before. He was beyond pissed off at the strange person following him around.

“You know, it’s my home too. Well, it’s more like it’s kinda my home but kinda not.”

He didn’t even turn around at that point, too resigned to walking away with a scowl.

“What the hell do ya’ mean it’s your home? The anti-void is my home! And how can something be ‘kinda’ your home? It either is or it isn’t!” he said, begrudgingly talking to the being. If it wouldn’t leave him alone, he was getting answers!

“I am truly surprised you never noticed me here. I’ve been here all along.”

“The hell do you mean by that? And you didn’t answer my previous question about it being ‘kinda’ your home dammit!”

“Ah well, I’m even more surprised you never noticed while you were in the other worlds. Didn’t you know all the voids are alive?”

“...huh? Whaddya’ mean by that?”

“The voids. They are all alive. They all have a soul.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“You don’t have to believe it, Error. It’s true regardless of your belief.”

“You have to prove it to me.”

“The proof is in front of you. Although, I don’t really qualify as a void. I’m the anti-void after all. There’s only one of me.”

“I don’t believe it. But let’s pretend you’re right,” his scientific interest was piqued. Well, at least this chick wasn’t boring. She’d still have to get the hell away from him eventually. They kept walking through the anti-void.

“It’s true, but I know I can’t force someone like you to just believe such things without significant proof. It’s a bit hard to prove to someone though.”

“What do you mean, someone like me?” he looked back angrily. When she didn’t answer, he was confused. The chick seemed pretty talkative a minute ago. Well, whatever. He turned away from her again.

“Scientific people like you. Those who can’t just accept anything because it’s said to be. People who need logic to understand something.”

“Yeah, well of course I wouldn’t believe some stuff that sounded like made-up shit,” he stated, deciding that for now maybe it was worth ignoring the fact that the weirdo wouldn’t talk to his face.

“So, regarding the entirely true scenario from before, me being the anti-void. The fact that I am such a being means I’ve been observing you for a long time.”

“That’s creepy,” he said, shuddering. A few error signed glitched at such a movement. If one was to look in the anti-void at the moment, they would see a disgruntled, slightly curious, glitching skeleton being followed by some strange, extremely white, soulless human-esque creature. It would be a sight to see. Especially if one heard the skeleton calling the girl creepy, when it appeared as though it would more appropriate for the girl to say such a thing instead.

“Well, when you are nearly the only thing I have to keep track of, I end up watching you a lot.”

“What do you mean ‘keep track of’?”

“I mean, I have a job technically, just like how you have one. Destroying universes is yours, guiding new universes to their respective voids is mine. I also have to keep track of everything residing within the anti-void, which includes you.”

“Explain the part about ‘guiding new universes’. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sure you know that the being known as ‘Ink’ creates universes, yeah?”

“Of course. He keeps making awful glitchy universes that are nothing like the beautiful unplagued original AU.”

“Well, when he makes new universes, they don’t have a void, so I must quickly guide them on their way to get one. If their time starts without a void, they quickly destroy themselves. My job is to guide them to a new void-being. I point them on their way so that they have the opportunity to live.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t let those glitches live…” he sighed, still believing that the girl was lying.

“Well, it’s my job after all,” she sounded happy as said such a thing. He sighed again.

“So what’s the point of telling me this now?”

“I thought it was finally time to tell you about all of this came to be. You, Ink, and the alpha universe.” He stopped walking at that point. This possibly human being wanted to tell him about his creation? He’d listen, but he probably wouldn’t believe a word she said.

“Go on. I’ll listen, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll believe,” he said, continuing his aimless walk through the white space. He was intrigued in her delusional theories, even though he wouldn’t admit it.

“In the beginning, it was just me. I was alone, unsure of who made me and what my purpose was. Then, after an indescribable amount of time, there was a universe. It was just me, a single void being, and the alpha timeline. At this time I was still unsure of my purpose. I was just a container for the void and the universe. I suppose I had no purpose other than to hold them.”

He grunted, fine without commenting on her story much and intrigued by her imagination.

“At some point, I realized that the void and the universe was no longer there. I’m not sure how I knew it, but I also realized that there were now many, many voids that existed. The space where the void and universe once were was strange. It was like a carbon copy of what was previously there, but it was extremely glitched. It was as though there was supposed to be data there, but nobody could access it. Upset at losing the only interaction I had with others, I quickly attempted to recover the universe’s data.”

He stayed silent, nonchalantly listening to her explanation.

“When I did so, I ended up creating another universe that was strange. It was at that point that I discovered my unyielding need to send new universes out to the voids, as I had no way to maintain them in the anti-void. So, in order to save my new creation, I sent it out to be assigned to a void that would maintain it. Again, I had lost my one point of contact with others. However, the glitched, inaccessible universe was still there. I decided to move it to another location in order to keep it from whatever had removed the first universe. Perhaps if the glitched universe was in another place, I could keep it. In doing so, I kept something that wasn’t mine to keep. It was strangely maintained through a glitched, non-sentient version of the void and somehow managed to be similar to my original universe. It was my selfish wish to not be alone which caused me to keep it.”

“What happened to it?” he asked. Of course, if he found such a universe, he would destroy it. A fully glitched universe definitely should not exist.

“Something strange happened in the recovered universe. A being gained powers it was not supposed to have.”

“Who?”

“The being known as Sans in that universe soon became Ink,” she said.

“You CREATED INK?”

“I suppose.”

“But what does HE have to do with anything?” he was scowling again. Ink always brought a frown to his face. He was always creating awful, glitched universes that shouldn’t exist.

“Well, when he gained the powers, possibly from some of the piece I added to the universe being too powerful, as I am the anti-void after all, the glitched ghost of a universe I had move began to crumble. Of course, I was devastated.”

“Huh” was his only reply. He was just glad that the glitched universe had taken care of itself.

“That world was your world.”

He stopped in his tracks, spun around quickly, and stomped up to her.

“What...the...HELL?! Are you saying my world wasn’t meant to exist!?” he practically screamed in her face.

She remained silent, just staring at him with her strange eyes.

“Dammit, talk to me! Why the hell won’t you talk when I look at you!?” he screamed, no longer fine with ignoring her behavior.

She just kept remaining silent.

“I’m not just going to turn around this time! Fucking talk to my face!” he was seething at this point.

Then, he heard a sigh. However, it hadn’t come from the girl. It had come from….behind him? He spun around, noticing a stranger being. This one looked less human than the other.

“What the hell?”

‘I was hoping you wouldn’t notice but I suppose it’s way too obvious.” He looked ithe being over. He presumed the being was female, but half of her looked as though it was the inverted version of the other side. When he looked closer, it wasn’t an exact inversion. Half of her had pale, white skin, stark black medium-length hair and bright red eye, while the other side had pure black skin, bright white hair, and a yellow eye with a blue iris and a red pupil. She was a somewhat curvy-looking human, but she wore clothes similar to him. Her clothes were also split down the middle. Her pale side wore a deep red shirt, a blue hoodie, black sport-shorts with a white stripe, white socks, and white and blue sneakers. Her dark side wore a yellow shirt, deep red hoodie, white sports shorts with a black stripe, deep blue socks, and black and red sneakers. She had a large smile like his, but her teeth were pointed and also strangely split, being yellow on her pale side and red on her dark side.

“What the hell are you? Some sort of weirdo? And why do you look like that? In fact, some of you looks kind of like me. You have to be a fucking weirdo, you creepy stalker.”

She sighed again, looking slightly shy at being caught. “Look, it’s been a long time since I’ve come to be and my avatar body has changed over time. I’m not sure how I originally got my avatar body, but I think it was just out of a want to be normal after first seeing the beings that existed. I’m not sure how the original form was chosen, but I looked like that to begin with. “ she said sheepishly, as she pointed to the blank-eyed human-looking being.

“After a lot of changes I made to my avatar over time, I began to look like this. I’m kind of an amalgamation of everyone from different universes that I’ve actually seen and maybe wanted to be like? A lot of Sans variants were what you were looking at, so I ended up changing according to look like some. I’ve also seen many humans that I thought were cool. Eventually, I ended up looking like…this. I created that doll because I wanted others, if I actually met any, to see me for what I originally was and not the strange looking being I’ve become.”

“Well, I get what’s going on now. You’re definitely weird looking. I understand why you needed a doll when you look this fucked-up. How are you controlling it though?” he asked, scientific curiosity bleeding through once again.

She smiled gingerly, her sharp teeth unthreatening when the rest of her face was giving such a gentle look. All of a sudden, he noticed strange yellow strings coming from her hands.

“I adapted your string power into a power of my own. I adapted them to have the ability to turn invisible though. So it wouldn’t be noticeable that I was controlling it.”

“Well, now that I know, can you leave that creepy thing here?” he pointed to the blank eyed doll.

“Yeah, sure. You would really rather look at the current me rather than the past me?”

“Sure, better than looking at some creepy-eyed doll-thing. I’m not that pretty to look at either.”

When he looked at her again, he noticed that her gaze was averted and she had a strange white tint on her black cheek. She was also Swirling her hair around her finger. Was she...shy?

“We got a bit off track..” she laughed.

“Yeah...so...was my world a mistake?” he seemed suddenly broken by their previous conversation, less angry than just plain old depressed.

“I wouldn’t call it a mistake. I do feel regret in trying to restore that world though. If Ink hadn’t been created, maybe the glitched world would still exist. I’m pretty sure you were the result of the multiverse trying to balance Ink’s power with another that had an equal but opposite effect on the multiverse as a whole.

“That...makes sense. In science, there is always a cost. Always some opposite reaction to the original one. If a chemical reaction uses energy, the surrounding area has energy taken away. If a reaction creates energy, the surrounding area is given energy. I guess it makes sense to have a being with opposite power somewhat, but I’d have to do more research to be sure. Not that I’d really want to.”

“I know some of the void-beings have theories about you and ink. They are trying to research the multiverse but can’t contact me to confirm.” she giggled a bit, clearly amused by the void-being’s attempt. “As their technical elder, I like to mess with them a bit. But it is true that I can’t contact them, so it’s not actually me messing with them.”

“Gotta say, your story is becoming more believable as you keep talking.” she giggled again. For some reason, hearing another being giggle at what he said made him shy. It was truly strange, him talking normally to anyone.

“I gotta’ ask, but aren’t you bothered by me destroying universes and all that?”

“Ah well, you have an important job. You have to destroy universes. There are only so many voids and destroying universes allows more room for new ones. If there are no more voids to regulate a universe but a new universe is born, one universe has to undergo a fate worse than death. You are like the garbage collector, Error. You go around, deleting things you deem unnecessary. If the creator out-does the garbage creator, then there is extra ‘garbage’ that just sits around. Once the garbage is sitting around, it decomposes until everything it eventually dies and it is just energy waiting to be made into a new universe.”

“So what is this fate worse than death? You described it as decomposing until everything dies. Sounds unpleaseant.” Error and the Anti-void began walking again at a leisurely pace, this time side-by-side, both putting their hands in their hoodie pockets.

“Voids separate the universes’ matter and antimatter. Without a void, the matter and antimatter collide randomly, creating explosions of energy. The original souls of the universe never get to gain a body, so they just go around trying to find their soulmate. When they do find their soulmate, they instantly create a new soul, having no matter to slow the process of giving their new life energy over time. Eventually, the entire universe become beings who know nothing, as they are taught nothing by their parents and just wander around aimlessly in an attempt to meld with their soul mate and die to escape they hell they belong to. Eventually, when there is only one soul left, it goes so long without finding a soul mate that it just falls down. At that time, all that’s left is enough energy to create a new universe.”

“Damn, that’s depressing.”

“Yeah...oh, we’re here.”

He looked confused. “Uh...where?”

“The place where the alpha universe used to exist.”

He looked ahead, curious.

“There’s something there.”

“Yeah, when you and Ink came into being, this thing appeared.”

“What is it.”

“I call it…the blueprint.”

“The blue print?”

“Yeah, it’s like a universe without matter, so only energy, and all of the souls directly interact without combining. They’ve essentially become a hive-mind. I’ve talked to them a couple of times, but they also usually busy and send me away. So basically I don’t get to interact with them at all.”

“Busy? They’re just sitting here!” he exclaimed, still confused about the situation. “What is their purpose anyway?”

“They are the blueprint for creating the other worlds. By default, all of the souls in there are just shells that have the default parameters for each of the beings that will ever exist in the universe. Ink just manipulates the values as he likes. He re-arranges the values and utilizes the matter of the newly created universes to fit the energy. They do have a job though. The souls somehow have all of the memories of their counterparts from other universes. However, when a new universe is created, the memories aren’t retained, just the link where the blueprints collect the memories. The blueprint, strangely enough, also has the job of rearranging the voids and universes to better balance the universe. I think they have this job because they understand the differences in the universes the best out of everyone. They are constantly working on better ways to keep the multiverse balanced. If you haven’t noticed, everything in the multiverse seems to be about balance.”

“Interesting,” her marvelled at the black sphere in front of them. Apparently there were all of the souls ever created in each universe residing in this sphere. And this was where his original universe had resided! He was intrigued, but also sad. The loss of his universe had been a horrifying experience. He looked at the anti-void girl. She looked...somber, resigned.

“I’ve been wondering for a while now but…” he started “...why are you telling me this?”

“Look, I’ve been around a long time and… I have a confession?” He looked at her strangely. She was looking away again, white yet again covering her cheek. Her hands were wringing behind her back and she was tapping the toe of one of her feet against the ground nervously.

All of a sudden, she looked him straight in the eye. “Error… I am absolutely, entirely, madly in love with you.”

He had frozen from shock. Never having received a confession like that, he had no idea what to say. Obviously, he couldn’t return her feelings, right? He had only known her for a short time. He realized that she had known him most of her life though. Her feelings made his soul buzz a little, as though something extraordinary had just happened. Going against his soul, he was going to have to turn her down. His soul ached for him to accept, but he wasn’t going to give in to it’s pitiful need to be appreciated.

“Look… I don’t know about this...it’s too sudden… I don't’ think I can…” he trailed off. She didn’t look surprised at all by his refusal.

“I know you don’t like me like that, but my soul has ached for so long just to tell you.” She sounded like she was in deep pain, but she wasn’t crying. Maybe it was because her soul wasn’t in this body either, despite the fact that this body was undoubtedly her.

“Did you know that if voids die, they are reborn?” He looked startled at what she was suddenly saying. She couldn’t be… right?

“Some of them don’t remember anything when they’re reborn. That’s why I wanted you to know all this. I knew you couldn’t love me in the same way. You don’t even know me, right? And your soulmate must’ve died with your universe, right? There’s no way we could be. I just want to get rid of these feelings because they are unbearable. I wanted to finally lose all the hope that was built up. I am a monster after all. If I lose hope I’ll fall down.” She wasn’t crying before, but she sure was now. 

“Wait.. what if we got to know each other?” he reached out his hand

“Giving me hope now is cruel, Error…” she shoved his hand away, still crying, but looking relieved all the same.

“I’m glad that I met you Error…” he just watched as parts of her avatar began to dust. His soul constricted, feeling pain. Was it possible...that they were soulmates? _No, probably not_ he stubbornly decided. Before she finally became dust completely, she looked at him once more and said three simple words.

“I love you.”

Then, she fell apart before him. He began uncontrollably sobbing, the pain in his soul escalating beyond the point of sadness. Maybe he had enjoyed her company in the short time they had spent together? Talking with someone normally was nice. And she understood him! She had been there the whole time! She was the only person in the multiverse who didn’t hate him it seemed. He was truly shocked and disappointed by her death, despite the fact that he had just met her. It had been cruel to allow him someone to spend time with then suddenly take it away. With the realization that the only person who treated him normally and, even more extraordinarily, loved him, was gone, he felt himself begin losing hope too. However, before he could fall down himself, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He stopped sobbing and looked up to see… the doll? He was about to strike out at in in anger when he looked at it again. No..it wasn’t the doll. It looked much younger and it’s face held curiosity rather than the emotionless stare he had seen before. Big blue eyes were staring into his, showing concern and intrigue.

“Hi!” she said with enthusiasm. “What’s your name?”

He looked at her with disbelief.

“My name is Error….” he said softly.

“Do you wanna be my friend?”

He stood and held out his hand. This was his second chance after all. “Yeah... sure kid.” The child anti-void grabbed his hand.

“I like you,” she said as they walked off, no destination in sight.

“I like you too,” he replied, smiling warmly.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote all of this in one sitting. It's 6:20AM. T_T


End file.
